Posted by Whitney Quesenbery on January 28, 2010 | Comments (0)
We put out a call for stories of "aha" moments during user research, when something observed in the context illuminates an entire aspect of experience. Nancy Frishberg sent us this story. It's a wonderful example of how people may not call attention to adjustments they have made in their environment.
Here's Nancy's story:
I did a series of home visits with people who had been diagnosed with a particular chronic illness. This illness causes joint inflammation, painful movement and fatigue among other symptoms, and can be controlled with various medications (and perhaps by diet).
I was investigating questions about how the illness affected the person's work life, family life, participation in social activities, whether any regular activities had been curtailed, and what changes the doctor recommended to the drug regimen or diet or other adjustments.
I worked with one woman who had been living with the illness for at least 7 years. Throughout our time together, she told me that the illness had little or no effect on her activities, and that she was healthy for all external purposes. Instead, we talked about our mutual enjoyment of the movies and she described a recent reunion with high school girlfriends, now all approaching retirement.
She owned a hairdressing studio, and felt responsibility to her (aging) customers to continue to provide them with service, though her husband had already retired. Her customers didn't know the extent of her illness, but just that she had aches and pains from time to time.
On my last visit with her, she asked if she could blow out my hair. I thought about it, and couldn't figure out why not. I hadn't taken the time to do anything other than let my chin-length straight hair air-dry. So we spent the final 20 minutes of our visit with her styling my hair.
Where's the aha?
She stood, while I sat. She used an ionic brush, an electronic dryer that looked something like this - different from the ones I'm used to. http://www.conair.com/images/hc_bc171cs.jpg
She worked with both hands: The dominant hand holds the dryer-brush for blowing warm air, shaping of the section of hair at the same time, while the non-dominant hand uses the tail of a comb to separate out sections of the hair for attention.
What's most noteworthy is that the device is about half the weight of an ordinary hair dryer (1.1lbs vs 2-3 lbs), which means that she had figured out a way to continue her work while reducing the physical demands of holding a heavy device.
She did not make any verbal reference to the difference in effort, but merely recommended that I might like to try this device at home, and that it was her favorite at the salon as well.
Posted by Whitney Quesenbery on January 24, 2010 | Comments (0)
One of the values of using stories is how much information they can pack into a few words. The IBM Knowledge Socialization Project has an example:
"My sister-in-law went shopping at Nordstrom's
at Christmas time. Later, they discovered that their
packages had been lost or stolen...."
Look at how much information is packed into this short story fragment. Their web site has a list of facts that are either explicit, or implicit.
- Some are simple, like the basics of the plot: shopping, Nordstrom's, December.
- Others look at the implications of the facts in the story: she was not held up at gunpoint (because they discovered the loss later).
- Still others are cultural implications: She is shopping for Christmas presents (and celebrates Christmas). She is relatively well off (Nordstrom's is a high-end department store).
- Or communicate relationships: I am married, and communicate with my sister-in-law.
I re-created this exercise in my chapter on "Narrative and Storytelling" in John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin's The Personas Lifecycle. I used this 53 word story fragment based on the book's running case study:
Tanner was deep into a Skatepunkz game-all the way up to level 12-- when he got a buddy message from his friend Steve with a question about his homework. He looked up with a start. Almost bedtime and his homework was still not done. Mom or Dad would be in any minute....
If you deconstruct this story, a lot of the cues are based on implicit cultural messages about the structure of families and the use of technology.
- He's a kid (he has a bedtime)
- He'd good at games (level 12)
- He has regular access to a computer and to the internet (budy message)
- He has some privacy (Mom or Dad would be in any minute)
- But he also has rules (bedtime, homework)
For even shorter stories, there are several sites (and books) with 6-word stories.
There are compressed plots like these two from sixwordstories.net: "Fat. Drugs. Skinny. Rehab. ...Fat again." - Rustan Crane or "Coma. 20 years. Awake! Divorced...Suicide" Ben Ng (On sixwordstories.net)
Some are juxtapositions that suggest the events that led up to them. The most famous is from Ernest Hemingway: "For sale, baby shoes. Never used." Other examples of this sub-genre are: "Indian engineer in America; drives taxis," "She left for another. Incentives mattered," or "Seeking ride to New York, one way." (All on Marginal Revolution)
There are now several books of 6-word memoirs. You can see a collection of them from famous and obscure writers in the video on Smith Magazine - scroll down to the bottom of the right column.
Some try to tell a whole story, not just hint at one:
"How does lunch sound?"
"Lovely."
"Perfect."
There are a lot of sites with collections of these stories. As you read, it's hard not to think about how much information is packed into each of them.
How about a collection of 6-word stories on user experience?
"Click. Back. Click. Back. Next site."
"Great suggestions. Just what I want."
Add yours in the comments.
